Company culture
Spotlighting amazing humans and their meaningful work
© experimenta
The brand
Sapienza Consulting (now acquired by Serco) has been a provider of space engineering, software, and technical services for the space and defence industries for over 25 years.
While Sapienza Consulting has a long history within the space sector, it can be the case that, due to the company being a service provider, people might not be aware of how being employed at Sapienza can offer them a career working directly on-site at major space agencies.
I brought the idea and took the initiative of featuring a few employees on our website and social media in order to highlight their meaningful work. The goal of this was dual: on the one hand, recognise our employees and make them feel valued and on the other hand to inspire potential future candidates to want to join our team.
The interviews focused on female colleagues and were published on International Women’s Day.
The challenge
Company Culture
Content
Deliverables
Creating questions for selected employees and contacting them to ask them to participate
Publishing content on the website and promoting it on the company LinkedIn page
An article featuring female employees working on inspiring space projects
The execution
04/03/2020 – Noordwijk – The Netherlands
In celebration of International Women’s Day this year, we have decided to share a few facts relating to our company’s equality culture as well as to put a spotlight on five of our female employees working within different areas of expertise. We hope you join us in this important celebration and that you enjoy reading it!
Sapienza Consulting has always been an equal-opportunity employer. More specifically, we pride ourselves not only in cultivating and maintaining a diverse environment throughout the years but also in making our priority to give equal opportunities to both genders; especially within the male-dominated industry of Space & Defence.
Here are a few quick facts:
53% of our employees are female, of which:
26% have a background in STEM
19% have a background in Business Administration & Finance
16% have a background in Social Sciences
We are honoured to feature the below short interviews of Clara Cruz Niggebrugge, Servanne Dauphin, Elena Razzano, and Antje Vogel who have provided a brief glimpse of how they have experienced being part of the Sapienza Consulting family.
Describe your role and background briefly.
I am based in ESTEC. I work at ESA’s Education Office as ESERO & European STEM Education Projects Coordinator.
Within ESA, this office develops and implements programmes targeting young European citizens from 4 to 28 years old. The ultimate objective is to support ESA’s member states’ policies as well as Europe’s priorities and economic ambitions, as a knowledge-based society, by inspiring and motivating young people to enhance their literacy and competencies in science and technology (STEM); pursue a STEM/space career and increase young people’s awareness on the importance of space as well as on the ESA and national space programmes. The project I coordinate, ESERO, is aimed at the school education level (primary and secondary education).
“Sapienza Consulting has a quite diverse team (culturally, as well as gender-wise), and people are kind and professional with each other.”
What do you like about working at Sapienza Consulting?
I started at the end of 2011 in a temporary position at the ESA Human Spaceflight Strategy Office.
A little more than one year later, there was an opportunity in the Education Office to work on the expansion of the ESERO project. Sapienza has supported me from the very beginning—which is the application process. Also, after I started, I was given immediately a lot of responsibility, but also the freedom to make an impact. I worked hard to expand the project and to make a difference. I feel quite proud about the effort I have been putting into ESERO on a daily basis, as well as about everything our ESA Education team has managed to achieve. It is of course a team effort, but, individually, I think is very important, in terms of motivation and satisfaction to feel that our individual strengths, skills, and expertise make a difference. What I also find very important, is that Sapienza Consulting has quite diverse team (culturally, as well as gender-wise), and people are kind and professional with each other.
Describe your role and background briefly.
As the requirements manager of the EGNOS projects at ESA, my role is to enable my colleagues to define and manage the requirements of the different versions of this complex navigation system.
In order to do that, we are using a dedicated tool from IBM, called DOORS. Part of my responsibility is to configure and customise it with scripts in order to provide the most appropriate service to the team.
“I love the multicultural environment as well as the creativity needed to find solutions to various technical challenges.”
My job is unique because:
I very much enjoy working with my team, which is a truly international one as it is comprised of more than 12 nationalities. Also, my role is one of the few transversal ones, which means that I have the opportunity to interact with most members regardless of their technical expertise domain and at all stages of the projects.
What do you like about working at Sapienza Consulting?
I love the multicultural environment as well as the creativity needed to find solutions to various technical challenges.
Describe your role and background briefly.
I am based at the European Space Agency, in the UK office known as ECSAT.
I work within the Downstream Business Applications team as a Space Applications Engineer. My job focuses on the evaluation and implementation of projects with industries developing new business ideas and commercial applications integrating space-related data or technologies. This particular job requires technical skills in the space industry, as well as business-related skills for the success of these new business cases. My background matches both areas since I’m first an aerospace engineer with experience in the delivery of space systems and a business consultant. I like being able to use the experience and knowledge acquired throughout my entire working career.
“I always feel motivated and proud of my work when I contribute to activitiesthat aim towards improving our societies, environment, and life.”
My job is unique because:
I have the chance of approaching very different markets and industry because I lead diverse projects. This variety gives me the perception of the common needs in the society, the macro trends regarding technologies and businesses, and the economic status of ESA member states (i.e. all around Europe). I always feel motivated and proud of my work when I contribute to activities that aim towards improving society, environment, and life, which is our main mission. However, during this year I was involved in some projects related to fighting the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, and that has been particularly important to me. Being able with my work to directly support solutions for this extreme situation we are all facing, has been invaluable to me.
What do you like about working at Sapienza?
First of all, working at Sapienza exposed me to an international environment, which has been so far extremely important in my personal and professional growth. And, of course, it comes with the friends I have now, spread around the continent. On a second point, I always dreamt to work for ESA, and Sapienza allowed me to realise this dream.
My work is extremely diverse and challenging. I develop applications that address a large range of sectors that use space technology data, ranging from autonomous delivery services using robots, to forestry management solutions based on Earth Observation data.
Describe your role and background briefly.
In my current role as applications engineer and feasibility studies manager in the downstream business applications team at ESA, I am supporting companies in developing their services using Space born data in combination with other technologies. My background is in geodesy with a focus on applications using satellite navigation.
My job is unique because:
…of the huge variety of activities I am dealing with. I support small feasibility studies as well as development projects. The applications address a large range of industry sectors and use different kinds of space technology or data. To give a bit of a flavour of the type of applications: this ranges from autonomous delivery services using robots, forestry management solutions based on earth observation data to maritime services. This requires flexibility and offers the chance for learning a lot across the fields too. Helping the companies along the way, developing and piloting their solution and to see them succeed makes me feel proud.
What do you like about working at Sapienza?
I appreciate the good support. Also, the atmosphere in the Sapienza community in ECSAT, which is rather small, is very friendly. The people are kind-hearted and open and some became good friends over time.
We would like to sincerely thank Clara, Servanne, Elena, and Antje. We are very honoured to have featured these inspiring women on this important day. We will always continue to promote a company culture that supports equality and diversity, and will always offer support to our employees in order to be able to express their multifaceted skills to the best of their potential.
Happy International Women’s Day! 🚀
